Go out, go in, then go out.
This is, in theory, what the people of Brussels will have to do this Friday evening to comply with the health measures.
Everywhere in Belgium, the curfew ends at midnight, Saturday May 8.
This means that in Flanders and Wallonia, where the curfew runs from midnight to 5 a.m., it actually ended this Friday morning at 5 a.m.
The inhabitants therefore experienced their last curfew on Thursday evening.
But the situation is quite different in Brussels: the capital has applied a tougher curfew, which extends from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
This exception gives rise to a somewhat funny situation this Friday evening, since the inhabitants of Brussels will only experience two hours of curfew.
They will have to go home at 10 p.m. and will be free to come out at midnight!
For Léa, this Brussels incongruity had started long before this Friday, May 7.
“The three times we went to have dinner with my in-laws in Flanders, 15 minutes from Brussels, we could leave their home at 11 pm but we risked getting a fine once the border with Brussels had passed.
"
"Since it's 11 degrees and it's raining, the curfew doesn't have much impact on our lives"
The 30-something, very respectful of health measures, believes that the lifting of the curfew will have few consequences. “Since we can see each other outside but it's been 11 degrees and it's been raining for two months, because it's Belgium, in truth, the curfew didn't have much impact in our countries. lives. The situation is quite different from France where this is pretty much your only restrictive measure at the moment. For us, it was a tool among many others, including this concept of "bubble" that you have never had, that is to say someone with whom you can drop the barrier gestures, invite at dinner, etc. "
“This curfew has never been properly applied,” confirms Brussels parliamentarian Gilles Verstraeten (N-VA) in “De Ochtend” (VRT).
There were still a lot of people in the streets after 10 p.m.
I have also heard many cases of people who have met the police but have not received a fine, ”he denounces, denouncing the“ absurdity ”of this two-hour curfew.
"A new Belgian joke"
“It's a new Belgian joke, and not even a good one.
[…] Explain to me what that rhymes with.
If there is some administrative logic, there is certainly no human logic.
This is really what must be done to make a whole population doubt all the measures.
"
For its part, the cabinet of the Brussels Minister-President Rudi Vervoort in fact justifies this particular situation by a strict application of the decrees.
"We are applying the decree to the letter", explains the spokesperson for Rudi Vervoort (PS) in Le Soir.
However, the bamboche is not for immediately: from midnight, gatherings of more than 3 people (except children) remain prohibited.
As for the terraces of bars and restaurants, they will be able to reopen this Saturday, May 8, between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
